Why shop local?
Let me introduce the topic first, shopping local means buying services and products from the local shops of your own community, instead of buying from some big giant, situated in a foreign country.
In a study conducted in the United States, it was found that when you buy local, about 68% of the money spent, stays within the community itself.
But, on buying in a non-local fashion, only 43% of the money spent, stays in the community. In a country like India, I can only imagine the difference between the two to be more substantial.
Apart from the cliche reasons for serving humanity & social work, buying local has something for you too as well.
1. In a diverse country like India, where culture changes with every city. Only the local shops can provide some unique taste in what they sell, whether it be merchandise, food or decorative items.
2. There is a homely feeling in local shopping, you know the name of the owner, the owner knows you at least by the face, if not by your name or profession. You can build relationships far beyond business-customer.
3. The mutual bonding and trust you build with your neighbors by buying from their shops can’t be through anything else. In simple measure, it creates a small community, where people are happy, they talk to each other and are available 24*7 in someone’s bad and good times. Don’t you miss the old childhood days, when you called every aunty of neighboorhood as “taiji” and “chachiji”?
4. The most important point is. as the money stays in your community, so business owners reinvest in their businesses, their children go to better schools, they can invest more in their healthcare. Then they support more social structures, also do philanthropy. As a result of this, they invest back in their businesses, which in turn create more jobs. Your contribution probably creates a new job for your neighbor’s child or maybe your child as well.
…
Enough of this utopian world created by me, let’s talk reality.
1. We are lazy creatures, why go to a shop several blocks away when you can shop online and get a better and cheaper t-shirt on Amazon.
2. It’s survival of the fittest, whoever is better will survive. Local businesses don’t survive because they offer sub-standard services.
3. MNCs also provide jobs, right. They are not so evil as I portrayed. Sure, the negative impact on small businesses are more, but what can be done.
I have few points to counter though. Big MNCs, sure have worked hard in the past, but when they invade a market with millions of dollars, they can lower prices to an extent that no small business owner can. Some depend on funding, some on cash-in-hand. So it’s not a fair game. Also, the jobs they provide are uneven and biased towards some places, mostly their home country.
I am no saint, I also do online shopping and I am also guilty of eating at McD, Dominoes, PizzaHut etc. I just want to urge you to think about it and make conscious efforts in shopping local, remembering the things I told you.
In the end, I just want to say that, imagine a world where only street food you get is McD, Dominoes, Subway, Taco-Bell etc., the same in each city, the so-called “borderless world of trade”. When I return to my home town, I don’t want to go to Burger King with my friends. I want to go to ‘Mukesh uncle’ who is making burgers for me since the school days, which are not as tasty or hygienic as BurgerKing, but still gives me and my friends some nostalgia. Maybe I will offer him some much-deserved tip as well.
Hope you like my random thoughts, I am a little high on Malgudi though.
Rishabh Jain
An old soul, looking to create some real impact in the world.
You can contact me here if you like:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rj1997/
Inspired from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnhJUeCQf-o
